Source Manifesto
The built environment is the setting for all our lives
From the jaw-droppingly beautiful to the austerely functional, commercial architecture and design is around us wherever we work, eat, socialize, stay, shelter and travel through.
Even when we aren’t consciously paying attention to it, the built environment fundamentally influences our behavior, experience, and even well-being. It has a latent power, playing an active role in our lives.
Architects and Designers exert enormous influence over these spaces through product specifications.
Every year, their specification decisions impact:
$429B of US GDP spend
170M tons US waste
39% of global carbon emissions
The experience of every human being who ever leaves their home.
So it makes sense for buildings to be designed and built the best way they can be. It’s better for everyone – designers, constructors, owners, and those who will eventually occupy the buildings.
And yet, with everyone involved working under unnecessary stress and pressure, critical information needlessly slips through cracks in the process.
We believe that it’s time for improvement that goes far beyond the merely incremental.
We want to allow clear communication between everyone involved, create objective resources, and avoid time-sapping duplication and repetition of work.
We are industry insiders. So we know how important design is to a building’s success. We know that designers and contractors care about the decisions they make. We know that the choice of materials has a lasting impact on how buildings are received and how they affect the environment.
We also know that time, money and convenience are strongly influential factors. We don’t think this is right or acceptable, so we are making changes.
By giving designers the tools and the access to information that will allow them to make considered choices and decisions.
By supporting reps, so that the designers can get the benefit of their expertise across all phases of a project.
By giving contractors access to the documentation they need and constantly updating project information.
By giving manufacturers relevant access to the community and a platform to reach broader audiences.
By creating a community of peers who explore, test, share and discuss the merits of new and inspiring products.
We will always remember that the built environment is not inanimate.
These are human designs. Spaces created for life; in anticipation of our needs, and to support our potential. Not empty, but filled with existence. Conversation and debate. Trials and sorrow. Laughter, love and achievement. Creativity and knowledge.
For all our benefit, they must be the best we can possibly make them.
